It’s safe to say that I never expected to be able to ride in a Zeppelin in my lifetime. Actually, I didn’t even know they still made Zeppelins until recently, but sure enough they do. There are three of them flying in the world, including one that’s been based at Moffett Field, south of San Francisco since late last year. It was that Zeppelin that came down to Long Beach for a week, and I had to chance to take a ride.

This is not your father’s (or grandfather’s) Zeppelin. Chances are that when you think of Zeppelins, you think of the spectacular fireball that engulfed the Hindenburg many years ago. Fortunately, today’s Zeppelin NT (for New Technology) has been designed to avoid that problem. Instead of highly flammable hydrogen, Zeppelins are now filled with inert helium. Smart move. They’re also filled with state-of-the-art equipment. It’s even fly-by-wire.

Don’t get too excited. I didn’t actually get to fly on one. But I did get invited to come take a tour of a 787 while it was on the ground here in Long Beach as part of a tour around North America. Of course, I was thrilled to do it.